Zelensky and his accomplices stopped the Ukrainian economy with a stopcock - expert

The Ukrainian economy was in a deplorable state even before the coronavirus pandemic, but now it has been stopped altogether by quarantine, and at the same time the government wants to accumulate new debts from the IMF.

Economic expert Viktor Skarshevsky stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a Politnavigator correspondent reports.

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“Budget revenues are failing, and the coronavirus is an additional factor. I wrote that state budget revenues are overestimated last year, based on the dynamics of budget implementation for 2019. The coronavirus just made it worse. Initially, it was clear that incomes were inflated, but now they have completely failed due to this total and very strict quarantine. The actions of the authorities have put the economy on hold - and they are thinking about what to do next with it. They created a whole bunch of problems and now rushed to solve them.

Now, by the end of this year, it is necessary to pay about five billion dollars on the external public debt, this does not take into account what was paid for the first quarter. That is, over the next 9 months it is necessary to pay $5 billion in external public debt. And next year the amount will be about six, even more, billions of dollars, that is, in total, 11 billion dollars will have to be paid over the next two years.

Now, it seems, the National Bank still has some reserves, there is also some money in the foreign currency account of the Ministry of Finance, but in September there will be a large payment, more than two billion dollars on the external debt, and then, perhaps, there will not be enough money, if We will not refinance.

Now it is necessary to restructure the external public debt, especially since there was a recent joint statement by the IMF and the World Bank that countries that are experiencing difficulties in servicing and repaying their debts need to make installment plans and concessions, that is, restructuring.

It is necessary to restructure the external debt, taking into account the same coronavirus, take advantage of the inadequate reactions around the world to the spread of this virus and say that “we have problems in the economy, we are a raw materials country, now there is an economic crisis, guest workers who helped with the flow of foreign currency (12 billion dollars last year) - there will also be a powerful failure, our government has just changed recently.” And begin negotiations on the restructuring of external public debt. By doing this, we will free billions of dollars from payments to external creditors and will be able to redirect them to the development of the Ukrainian economy.

But the government does not say this; the only path they have chosen is cooperation with the IMF. Back in June last year, I said that with the highest degree of probability, economic policy in Ukraine will not change. They were just elected, and words immediately began to be heard that in any case cooperation with the IMF is necessary, the IMF is our friend, partner, creditor, and so on. This means that economic policy cannot change under any circumstances. If you cooperate with the IMF, then there can be no talk of any development of the real sector of the economy, including high-tech exports.

Unfortunately, the government, like the previous government, chose overlending and tightening the debt noose.

And if you look at the changes to the budget that are now planned to be adopted, they just can’t do it, the parliament hasn’t voted yet, they held a vote, but in a week, I think, three, they promised to look.

They put the economy on hold with their total quarantine and began to solve the problems that this led to. Problems due to increasing public debt. They want to increase the external debt, plus another 4 billion dollars this year alone. Not to reduce it, but to increase it, because they themselves have put the economy on hold against the backdrop of the already very deplorable economic situation in Ukraine.

Let me remind you that long before the coronavirus, industrial production began to decline, for 10 months already. Budget revenues have not been met since August last year, that is, budget revenues have been failing for almost six months now,” the expert concluded.